Tweets from Beneath

saturday signings

The past 24 hours have been busy for Anaheim prospects. Two left college early, one got his first goal, and a new prospect was created.

pro firsts

Last night’s game at Adirondack was momentous for two Admirals in particular. Matt Bailey, the promising UDFA from Alaska-Anchorage, scored his first professional goal on a Norfolk power play. It would be the Ads’ only regulation goal, getting them to overtime. Thankfully, Andre Petersson would be the only scorer in the shootout and John Gibson would secure two points and regain the lead over Hershey. Norfolk must keep winning, and preferably in regulation. That lead is still one point, and Hershey currently owns the Regulation+Overtime Winner (ROW) category.

In the debut category, William Karlsson had an inauspicious start. While he did register 3 shots on goal, he made a couple egregious mistakes. Trent Yawney inserted the Swede to start two power plays-and Karlsson ended them within 3 seconds of starting them. Karlsson will hopefully have learned from these mistakes. He was also in the shootout, and had a poor attempt. Nowhere to go but up?

If that name sounds familiar, it’s because brother Jayson Megna has been a recent staple of the rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Unlike his brother, Jaycob is a defenseman. He’s a bigger guy at 6’6″ who has spent the past three seasons at the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO). He’s not particularly offensive, registering only ten points, all on assists. Megna was a 2012 7th round pick of the Ducks. Expect Megna to report to the Admirals on an ATO next week with his ELC to kick in next year.

Jaycob Megna’s signing was surprising, but Nic Kerdiles’ signing has the potential to have more of an impact. A 2nd round pick in 2012 of the Ducks, the Irvine native has spent his past two years with the Wisconsin Badgers. He scored 33 points his freshman year and 38 in his sophomore campaign. Among his honors are 2013 WCHA Final Five MVP and 2013 second-team All-Big Ten. In both years, his Badgers team won their conference. Kerdiles was also named to the 2013 USA World Junior Championship team, leading the squad in points. With those accolades, the Ducks expect a lot of Kerdiles, who projects to be a top-6 type scorer. I’d also expect him to join Norfolk on an ATO sometime next week.

and a goalie

College UFA alert MT @SchlossmanGF All indications are that SCSU goalie Ryan Faragher will sign with Anaheim. Played 98 games in 3 years.

Anaheim addressed part of their goalie depth problem with Ryan Faragherfrom St. Cloud State University. Despite the legions of praise for the Ducks’ line of netminders, they have no one in the junior, college, or European ranks. This is actually a problem, as depth throughout the system is ideal. Faragher had save percentages of .915, .914, and finally .905 this year with SCSU. The last one is particularly problematic. What made a fairly consistent two years of work drop so drastically? Given the goaltending situation, he’s most likely headed for Utah next year. A lot of that hinges on what happens with upcoming RFA Igor Bobkovthis summer.

notebook

Still no word on Kevin Lind, keep an eye out on Monday…. Nick Sorensen has visa issues to sort out…. Ads take on B-Sens tonight….